Two Sides, Same Coin (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
by ilna
Summary: Steve runs into an old friend while enjoying an afternoon with Catherine and Angie.


**Notes:** Thanks to Mari and Sammy for their awesome feedback, and to Mari for the seed and the title!

Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support! It is always appreciated.

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

_Two Sides, Same Coin (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)_

"Is that enough sprinkles, sir?" the teenager behind the counter asked.

"Maybe a few more," Steve said, peering over the partition at the small cup of ice cream she was making. "And could you stick one of those little cookies in the side there?" he asked, pointing to one of the myriad toppings available.

"Sure," she said, grabbing one of the small chocolate chip cookies and sticking it in the vanilla ice cream covered with rainbow sprinkles. "Like that?"

Steve smiled. "Perfect, thank you."

The bell above the door rang and Steve glanced in that direction automatically just as a voice called out, "Smooth Dog?" The tall, broad-shouldered man in the doorway laughed. "It is you!" he said, heading for Steve.

"Santini," Steve said, a wide smile spreading across his face. He reached out to clasp the other man by the hand and the two shared a quick, back-slapping hug. "It's been a long time."

"Hell yeah, it has," Anthony Santini said. "Twelve years."

"Gimme one second, man," Steve said, turning back to the young woman behind the counter. "What do I owe ya?"

"$3.49," she said.

He handed her a five dollar bill. "Keep the change. Thanks," he said, taking the cup from her and turning back to his friend. He nodded toward the counter. "You gettin' something?"

"Nah, man, I was just walking by and saw you through the window," Santini said, still grinning. "Couldn't believe it was you, so had to come in and see. How the hell are you?"

"Good, I'm good. What about you? Are you still …?"

"No, I got out a couple years ago. Just here on vacation." He looked down at the ice cream in Steve's hand. "Never took you for a rainbow sprinkles kinda guy, but I guess there weren't a lot of ice cream parlors in Kandahar."

Steve huffed a laugh, grabbing a handful of napkins from the dispenser. "It's for my daughter."

Santini's eyes widened. "You with a daughter? This I gotta see."

* * *

As the two walked across the street to the park where Catherine and Angie were playing, Steve and Santini caught up, chatting about their lives over the decade or so since they'd last seen each other.

They reached the edge of the playground full of children, and Angie spotted her father, squealing, "Daddy! Ouse kweem!" as she ran toward him, Catherine following at a more sedate pace.

Steve chuckled. He glanced at his friend and said, "At least I still get mentioned first in that equation."

Angie reached them and lifted her hands for the ice cream cup, stopping as she noticed the man with Steve.

"Daddy, who dat?" she asked, pointing to Santini.

Steve smiled at her directness. "Angie, this is my friend, Sergeant Major Santini."

"You can call me Tony, little miss," Santini said, giving her a friendly smile.

"Hi!" she said, waving at him.

He laughed, waving back. "Hi."

"Ouse kweem, Daddy," Angie said, reaching up, her focus back on the treat.

"What do you say?" he asked.

"Pwease?" she dutifully replied.

"Here you go," Steve said, handing it to her carefully. "Two hands. Good job."

She stared at the creation with wide eyes. "Ohhh pwetty."

He chuckled. "Yeah, it's pretty. Gonna taste even better. Here, put it down on this bench and you can use your spoon." He motioned for her to step in front of the empty bench and use it as a table. He handed her a small plastic spoon. "There you go."

"Tank oo," she said automatically.

"Good girl."

As Angie got her spoon situated in her hand, Santini said, "Doesn't look much you, McGarrett, but I'm guessing that's Mom," he nodded toward Catherine who was nearing their spot, "because Angie is her spitting image."

Steve smiled as Catherine reached them. "My wife, Lieutenant Catherine Rollins," he said by way of introduction. "Cath, this is Tony Santini, retired Sergeant Major. My team had a joint mission with his unit back in 2007."

"Very nice to meet you," Catherine said, smiling warmly and offering her hand to shake.

"Likewise," Santini replied. "Lieutenant? You know, I remember some of the guys teasing McGarrett about a woman in Navy Intel," he continued. "Was that you?"

Catherine glanced at Steve and smiled. "That was me."

Santini breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Realized as I was asking that if it wasn't, that could've been … awkward."

"Mommy! Owse kweem!" Angie said, holding up a spoonful.

"I see," Catherine said. Folding her arms, she looked back at Steve. "Daddy went a bit overboard it looks like. Didn't they have a kiddie cup?"

"Yeah, but it was really small," he said. He shrugged. "I'll eat whatever she doesn't finish."

Catherine snorted. "You actually think she _won't_ finish that?"

Steve grinned at that, and Santini laughed. "Guess she takes after you after all, Smooth Dog."

"Pretty sure I never ate ice cream like that," Steve said, nodding to Angie who had abandoned the spoon and was picking sprinkles off individually and eating them with her fingers.

"Isn't that cold, honey?" Catherine asked in amusement.

Angie just nodded, not looking up, and kept eating the sprinkles one by one.

"Good thing I got extra sprinkles," Steve said. "And extra napkins."

There was a buzzing noise and Catherine reached into her pocket for her phone. Glancing at the screen she said, "Oh, this is work, I've gotta take this." She looked at Santini. "Excuse me one moment."

"Of course," he said easily.

She moved off several feet to better hear the call as she answered.

Steve looked at his friend. "She's the governor's chief of staff."

Santini's eyebrows shot up. "As in the governor of _Hawaii_?" At Steve's nod, he whistled, impressed. "Wow. That's big time."

"Yeah," Steve said proudly. "She worked on the taskforce with me for a couple years when she first transferred to the reserves, but once we decided to start a family, we knew we didn't want to risk both of us in the same dangerous job at the same time."

Santini nodded. "Understandable."

After watching Angie push at her loose pigtail with an ice creamy hand, Steve stepped behind her and slipped the hair tie off, gathering her curls and fixing the pigtail as he spoke. "So you said you're in New Orleans now?"

"Yeah, settled down there after I got out," Santini said, though his eyes were on Steve's movements with a thoughtful expression.

Angie's hair back in some semblance of order, Steve straightened. Noting his friend's expression, he asked, "What?"

Santini inhaled, shaking his head. "I dunno, man, it's just … kinda surreal. Last time I saw you, we were pinned down by insurgents on a ridge in the middle of Afghanistan. Now you're ordering ice cream with sprinkles and fixing ponytails."

"Pigtails," Steve corrected automatically.

"What?"

"A ponytail is one. When it's two, it's pigtails."

Santini laughed, a trace of disbelief in the sound. "See, that's what I mean. The Steve McGarrett I knew didn't know that. This is a totally different side of you, man."

Steve shrugged, acknowledging the fact. "I guess it is."

Santini shook his head slowly. "Two sides, same coin, huh?"

"Somethin' like that." He looked back at Angie who was now back to eating the ice cream with a spoon. "No kids for you?" he asked Santini.

"Nah. I mean, that's fine for some people, that's just not me. I guess I never really got the why of having kids."

Before Steve could respond, Angie's voice interrupted. "Daddy! Daddy!"

Steve looked to see her hand outstretched toward him. In it she held a part of the little cookie from her ice cream.

"Daddy cookie," she said.

"Yeah, that's a little cookie," he said, smiling at her. "I thought you'd like that."

She gestured toward him insistently. "_Daddy_ eat cookie!"

"Oh, you want me to have it?" he said, kneeling down and taking the proffered piece that was little more than a crumb. He popped it in his mouth and she beamed. "Thank you, baby girl, that's good sharing. Can I have a kiss, too?"

Still beaming, she leaned over and pressed her cold lips to his cheek, leaving a trace of ice cream behind.

Smiling as she turned back to her treat, Steve wiped the ice cream from his cheek and looked up at his friend.

"You wanna know the why?" he said. "That's why."

* * *

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